Chapter 14

For about five minutes, Lucius, Gabriel and Ezekiel stood there in shocked silence. Each of them staring at me with wide eyes and open mouths before Gabriel cleared his throat and sat down on the arm of the sofa looking totally defeated.

“What does He say?” His voice was detached and emotionless as usual but his eyes held some emotion that I recognised in myself…fear. I gulped and looked down at the scroll before me.

“Savannah, upon entering this life you were marked to be one of the protected, to be one of mine on earth. You are by far the most cherished, the most important, and I’m sorry to say the most threatened of the protected ones. There is a book, one that was written by a mortal prophet at the time of the creation of the Bible. It was designed for the purpose that should the Angelic or the Demonic become a threat to the existence of humanity, then humanity would be able to fight back. This book which had been hidden away and forgotten has now gone from even my sight. It could mean that there is something protecting it which is beyond my eyes but I fear that the book has fallen into the wrong hands. Please save my sons, all of them, even the ones that should be cast down by me. They may not be welcome within my gates but they are still my children.” I cleared my throat loudly as I looked up at the three and was shocked to see Lucius looking teary eyed. What shocked me even more was Ezekiel who walked the few steps up to him and patted his shoulder in consolation. Returning my gaze to the page as more lines appeared, I cleared my throat once more before continuing to read.

“Young one, you are just starting out on life but as a parent, I am asking you to save my children. Though the book was meant for good, in the wrong hands it can cause irreparable damage to the world. My sons will tell you more but let it be known that you cannot trust anyone except the three in your presence; they are the only ones who hold no taint and are loyal. Only one is totally loyal to me but the others are loyal to you and know that they would fight to the death for you. I will give you guidance as I can but in my position, I am not allowed to interfere directly with the balance, which is why there had always been a protected one.

“Young one, keep your heart true, keep your heart brave and most of all believe because without faith, all hope is lost –“ I stopped when I realised there was no more script and quickly dropped the paper when it started to heat up.

We all watched wide eyed as the paper curled up and blackened at the edges before being completely incinerated by some unseen flame, not a trace of dust there to show that the scroll had even existed. There was a silence that hung in the air for several minutes before she nodded to the charred remains. “So are you going to tell me what that was all about? Apart from the possible end of the world scenario, I am at a complete loss. And what about a prophet, is that a seer or something?”

Leaning back in the chair, I ran a hand through my hair noting how it was shorter on one side but my attention was drawn to Lucius as he cleared his throat.

“That damned book is coming back to bite us in the as…” I shot him a glare before he could finish the word and nodded towards Danny who was snoozing on his chest. With a snort he amended himself but his eyes showed his amusement. “Bite us in the butt. Anyway, the book is called the Book of Eve. Of course the destruction of all mankind and the celestials would be down to the words of a woman.” Shooting him another glare I shot my arm forward before realising it was my injured arm so I stopped before my hand could grasp a cold chip from the plate of food that was sitting on the table. I didn’t even want to know when that had arrived because I hadn’t even noticed, instead I waited for the pain but nothing came. When it didn’t I shook it off as the pain pills taking effect.

“What he was trying to say was that the Book is the single most powerful and dangerous one ever written.” Gabriel cut in, his face deadly serious.

“How can a book be dangerous?” I spoke before I could stop myself, a frown firmly on my face as my hand was raised in the air like I was a school student. After a quick exchange of looks between the three non-humans however, they looked down at me as if I was exactly that, a child who needed schooling.

“Let us put it into terms that you can understand, it’s like giving a ‘how to make bombs’ guide to a terrorist along with the floor plans and security detail of the guards. This book is more dangerous than you can possibly imagine because with the information in that book, they have the power to bring on the apocalypse should they wish it.” Gabriel was stern as he said this, his eyes never wavering from me as he spoke. “The book is beyond dangerous; its effects could be cataclysmic.”

I nodded my head dumbly but it still didn’t explain what the book did, only that it could be bring on the apocalypse if in the wrong hands. “So the book is?” I trailed off when Gabriel stared me down.

Ezekiel who seemed to know what I meant perched on the back on the sofa and wrung his hands a few times. “The book is the instruction manual for controlling the Angelic and the Demonic, the only good part is they don’t have the key to unlock the second part of the book, the how to control the Arch angels and Arch demons section, because the key  is still safely with him.” I breathed a sigh of relief only to tense back up again when he looked down at me like he was chastising me. “You can’t relax, if they somehow figure how to open it without the key, it will be the end of life as you know it. But even with only the lowers at their command they could cause irreparable damage. There are only certain people that are completely immune to the books effects and there are two in this room, you and Danny, a protected one and a Nephilim.”

I glanced at Danny who looked so innocent in his sleep before turning my gaze to Gabriel and Ezekiel in confusion. “What the hell is a protected one? And what more importantly is a Nephilim?”

“A protected one is a person who has been given a mission by Him and thus is not allowed to be touched by the demonic or the angelic. They are outside the realm of their feuds, the soul belongs to neither, it is a free soul so long as they complete the mission. An example of this is Noah and his great big ark which looked positively ghastly if you ask me and of course Moses.” Gabriel sounded quite bored as he recounted all of this to me, his eyes staring at his fingernails as he did so.  “And a nephilim is the offspring of an angel and a human.” He explained all of this placidly but after that sentence, I couldn’t have gaped any wider at the man. An angel and a human?  That’s impossible.

“Danny’s dad was a human. He was an American businessman, he was not angel. I think I should know if the guy I screwed was an angel.” I retorted hotly, getting angry that they would even assume to know more than me but at the same time, I was terrified he was right and I didn’t even notice the difference between human and angel. I shook the thought from my head as I tried to relax myself, my hands slowly unclenching whilst my mind was throbbing with a million thoughts. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the three of them exchanging looks.

“Fine, I’m sorry, I must be mistaken.” Gabriel muttered something else under his breath but luckily for him I decided to ignore it.

“Yeah because there would be no possible way that the flying pig brigade would ever admit to being less than perfect.” Lucius cut in with a smirk. He waggled his brows at me. “We all know that if angels had their way, the whole world would be celibate and of course the human race would be extinct. That’s why they’re not in charge.”

Gabriel growled at Lucius whilst Ezekiel just shook his head, though I couldn’t tell whether he was amused by the comment or not. “It’s better than your policy Lou, to sleep with everything that moves and overpopulate.” I snorted at that one and nodded my head in agreement. That sounded about right to me.

Lucius rolled his eyes not at all bothered by their comments as his fingers caressed the back of Danny’s head. “That’s not what is important, what we need to be thinking about is where we go from here. We all know that it’s going to get bad real soon, but first we need to check that the book is actually gone and if so find out who took it. Cut the rose at its bud. If the book is still there then I say we destroy it or at least move it to a safer location so these kids don’t get a hold of it. I don’t fancy my men being under the control of some kid that thinks he knows what is right.”

“And you need to find the mole.” I blurted out as he paused for breath which drew their attention to me. I lifted my hand to stifle a yawn.

“Nearly forgot about that.” Ezekiel acknowledge as he got up to pace. “We should discuss this further in the morning.” Lucius and Gabriel were about to protest but he nodded his head towards me. “She’s having information overload and I think the patient needs her sleep.”

With that nothing else was said but in a flurry of movement, I was snatched up from the chair and oddly found Gabriel holding me in his arms, he gave me the smallest of smiles before walking towards the screen that separated the bed from the rest of the room. I tried to protest and say that I was fine but he ignored me, stepping around the screen before placing me gently on the mattress and pulling the sheets up over me. I wanted to struggle more but it wasn’t until I was in the comfort of the bed that I realised how tired I really was. But still I didn’t want to sleep, there were so many things learnt, so many things to argue against, just too many things. I sighed and brought my hand up to massage my temples. Maybe it would be best to wait until morning.

Huffing as my eyes fluttered shut I mumbled somewhat coherently to them. “Fine we’ll talk about this in the morning.” I then relaxed back into the comfort of the bed and fell to sleep with a million thoughts flitting through my mind but the main one was wondering if Danny’s father was an angel and if Danny was truly a nephilim.

Sorry it's not very long but as you know I'm very busy at the moment. Next upload will be next wednesday but sooner if I get some of my work finished early. You'll just have to wait and see.  I know a few will have found this hard to follow but here's a heads up. Prophet and protcted one not the same. Prophet is one who writes future events, things that come true. The Protected one is like Noah and his Ark. Lucius is being quite wimpy for a devil at the moment but he's going to show his dark side soon but just so you know i don't follow traditional beliefs on things, I pretty much make them up, loosely using  the ideas of demons and angels.